Death Note is not a bad show. Its just a show that is too clever for its own good. Actually, "clever" makes it sound like a backhanded compliment- "paranoid" would suit it better. Paranoia swirls around in the mind of its protagonist, Yagami Light, telling him that someone might always suspect him, a teenager, of murdering people despite the means of the murders being untraceable- there was no real way the law would have caught up to him until he decided to take public requests. But he insists that he may be caught. So he builds an elaborate invention to destroy a goofy-looking notebook with rules written in a foreign language in case someone in his house or outside tries to reach for it. Egging him on is the Spirit of Death Ryuk, who acts both to applaud the pointless complexity of Yagami's thinking and to be an audience POV character, because, even if you don't understand what's happening, Ryuk affirms how the whole thing could only come from the mind of a supremely intelligent person so that you too applaud at what's happening on the screen. I followed this logic too, until I realised that such thinking is characteristic of paranoid individuals- the last thing they need is encouragement.
Then there is L- the weirdo who's strange behaviour makes everybody uncomfortable, except for his butler Watery. No wait, its "Watari" or something. Anyway, he apparently comes from money and has a cult going in the background to make sure his "legacy" survives with M and N, in case something happens to him. Of course, something does, and how this happens is so convoluted that only people who have seen the show can begin to fathom. Regardless, Ryuk is there to prevent anyone from calling out the bucket-sized plot-hole as well as the horse-sized good luck necessary for such a plan to work and induce exhilaration at the completely artificial solution to Yagami's equally Byzantine problem, because of course another Spirit of Death would fall in love with one of the worst characters I've ever seen in anime, no matter how little I have seen of it.
Maybe that's the point. This show is not about two geniuses fighting each other over their own ideas of justice- its about how the biggest geniuses in the world are paranoid people, and giving them Death Notes is like throwing petrol on a raging fire. Unfortunately, the original author had a lot of petrol to spare, as is visible in the problem called Misa Amane.
The aforementioned "worst character", Misa is the kind of baggage an intrepid traveller is offended when asked to carry. Not only is she shallow and stupid, but her committing suicide was one of the best things that happened at the end of the show. While Yagami treats her like the pointless piece of garbage she is, it just reflects what a terrible view this show has of female characters. Why couldn't L have been a woman? Or anyone in the "anti-Kira" gang? Or "Near" or "Mello" (what amazing names)? At the very least, the show wouldn't have appeared to be contemptuous of women then.
The pointless use of logic to substitute for characters shows how much storytelling has changed. No need for emotional development, just throw the closest approximation of intelligence that the writer believes he has on the screen. However, do not be fooled into thinking that this is actually intelligence, because the writing leaves a lot unsaid about the failures in intelligence made by the characters: How, for instance, does Yagami justify murdering people who weren't given a fair trial? What if he killed people who were wrongly convicted? He didn't have access to the evidence that those actually investigating crimes did, right? And even if he did, where did he gather them for criminals from outside Tokyo, let alone Japan? In short, Yagami's juvenile sense of justice remains unquestioned by his actions or his emotions. Both the Death Note and Ryuk prevent him from seeing anything other than what he does and the audience feels compelled to accept him because Ryuk will tell you how impressive all of this is supposed to be.
But then comes the second season. I liked it far more than the painfully manipulative first season, because it was trying to discuss the consequences of Yagami's actions, with religions popping up around Kira and the anti-Kira gang realising what a big mistake they had made by trusting Yagami. That is precisely why I could tolerate Near and Mello- they came from a bigger world, not to be easily placed within the conflict of insulated geniuses who kept fighting among and decided the "fate of the world" for themselves. Yes, even Near, who is almost an L clone, except that he has a close friend in Mello. There was nothing I liked more than Yagami breaking down because that was the only time I heard the voice acting of Mamoru Miyano come to life in this show. I won't say that the second season justifies the first season, with the introduction of new Death Notes for no discernable reason other than to increase the list of characters, but I do feel that there was far more that was redeemed in this season.
I still maintain that Death Note was not worth my time, but I am kind of okay with it existing. I nearly forgot about it and I am sure that, now I have written this here, I will forget about it within a few more months. I understand that reading this may likely incense you into writing some really mean comments. If you are going to insult my intelligence, please do: I found out that I am really insecure about it and I need as much of your salt as you can spare in order to get over it. At least that way, this show wouldn't have been a waste.
